THE ANC Youth League has again denied it wants to get rid of ANC general secretary Gwede Mantashe, but yesterday warned that it remains the only kingmaker in the tripartite alliance.
ANCYL president Julius Malema was quoted in City Press yesterday as saying Mantashe owes his position to the league's support.
"What the youth league did in Polokwane is that it went to fetch the secretary from losing as an additional member and, because the youth league is agreeing, he became the general secretary," he was quoted as saying in Pretoria last week.
ANCYL spokesperson Floyd Shivambu yesterday defended the statement, saying: "We are convinced that it was the ANCYL that led us to Polokwane."
He said Cosatu and the SACP were not primarily responsible for getting President Jacob Zuma elected as president of the ANC.
These comments are sure to anger Cosatu and the SACP, who see themselves as having been pivotal in removing Thabo Mbeki from power in 2007.
The battle over who will run the ANC after its next 2012 elective conference will heat up after the party's national general council this year.
Sowetan has been told that ANC president Jacob Zuma used Saturday's NEC meeting to calm tension between the ANCYL and SACP.
malema provokes alliance
THE ANC Youth League has again denied it wants to get rid of ANC general secretary Gwede Mantashe, but yesterday warned that it remains the only kingmaker in the tripartite alliance.
ANCYL president Julius Malema was quoted in City Press yesterday as saying Mantashe owes his position to the league's support.
"What the youth league did in Polokwane is that it went to fetch the secretary from losing as an additional member and, because the youth league is agreeing, he became the general secretary," he was quoted as saying in Pretoria last week.
ANCYL spokesperson Floyd Shivambu yesterday defended the statement, saying: "We are convinced that it was the ANCYL that led us to Polokwane."
He said Cosatu and the SACP were not primarily responsible for getting President Jacob Zuma elected as president of the ANC.
These comments are sure to anger Cosatu and the SACP, who see themselves as having been pivotal in removing Thabo Mbeki from power in 2007.
The battle over who will run the ANC after its next 2012 elective conference will heat up after the party's national general council this year.
Sowetan has been told that ANC president Jacob Zuma used Saturday's NEC meeting to calm tension between the ANCYL and SACP.
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